More buildings likely to collapse if … – Institute of Architects

The Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA) is warning that more buildings could collapse if aspects of the National Building Regulation, L.I. 1630 are not addressed.

The GIA disclosed that the legislative instrument that regulates the building industry has not been reviewed for more than a decade, thus, giving the contractors the freedom to build thousands of structures in the capital without guidelines.

This revelation was made after a 7-storey hotel under construction at Nii Boi Town in Accra collapsed in the early hours of Thursday claiming the life of one person and injuring another.

The incident has raised questions concerning the effective regulation of building construction in the capital and across the country.

In 2012, a six-storey building shopping mall collapsed around Achimota in Accra which claimed several lives and injured a few others.

Some persons are calling for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to be held responsible for failing to halt the construction after several failed attempts to prevent the owner of the building to discontinue the building process.

The outing Honorary Secretary to the Council of the Ghana Institute of Architects, Tony Asare in an interview with Citi News, explained that “the fact a building hasn’t got a permit doesn’t mean it should be poorly built.”

According to him, a building owner can poorly construct a building despite having a permit “where you have provided all the necessary documentations.”

Mr. Asare clarified that the building regulation L.I. 1630 which has not seen any review since 1996 has a lot of gaps which could allow recalcitrant building contractors to get away with putting up low quality building.

He noted that the present building regulation “satisfies only low level building not high level buildings…the next time you hear that another building has collapsed, I will not be surprised.”

Meanwhile, the Police say they are working assiduously to get to the bottom of the matter.

The Director Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Cephas Arthur told Citi News, the Police is “in touch with everybody that we are supposed to be in touch with as far as investigations is concerned…the Police is doing everything possible to get to the bottom of this matter.”